120 Arrested in Raids on Major Drug Ring : U.S. Makes First Large-Scale Use of Pretrial Seizure of Property

Federal authorities said they disrupted operations of a notorious nationwide heroin, cocaine and marijuana smuggling and distribution ring Tuesday by arresting 120 persons and seizing cars, candy stores, taverns and apartment houses.

The property seizures were the first large-scale use of a new federal law allowing the confiscation before trial of all property used in any way in the course of a drug transaction, according to Anton R. Valukas, the U.S. attorney for northern Illinois.

Property Reverts to U.S.

“As a result of the new law,” a Justice Department statement said, “the United States now owns all of the seized property and the burden is on the former titleholder to prove he has no knowledge that the property was used to facilitate drug transactions.”

Justice Department officials said that the Tuesday crackdown focused on the operations of the Herrera crime family, based in Durango, Mexico, which allegedly has dominated narcotics trafficking in metropolitan Chicago and northern Indiana for two decades.

Almost 500 federal agents from six different agencies took part in the raids.

The property was seized under provisions of the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which allows the government to use civil courts to obtain forfeiture of property allegedly used in drug transactions. On Tuesday, federal agents seized 31 houses and apartment houses, two gasoline stations, two candy stores, five taverns, two restaurants, two jewelry stores, a flower shop, two mobile homes and so many automobiles at various sites that they could not give the total number.

Conspiracy Charges

Those arrested were among 134 accused by federal grand juries in Illinois and Indiana of taking part in conspiracies to smuggle and distribute heroin, cocaine and marijuana. They are also accused of allegedly using telephones and traveling interstate to facilitate narcotics offenses.

The investigation that led to the grand jury indictments and the raids took more than two years and included widespread court-authorized electronic surveillance, including wiretaps. One indictment alleges that federal agents overheard more than 500 drug-related telephone conversations involving Jesus Herrera-Diaz, whose Indiana home was seized in the raids.

Federal authorities said that the Herrera organization is made up of more than 2,000 persons and that it controls the alleged drug operation from the poppy fields of Mexico’s Sierra Madre to the streets of major cities. The Herrera family has also been implicated at various times in alleged drug trafficking in Los Angeles.

Other Drug Rings

In addition to the Herrera operation, federal authorities said that they disrupted three additional drug distribution rings with Tuesday’s arrests.

The raids began at 4 a.m. and continued into the early evening hours. They took place in Illinois and Indiana, with additional arrests in Colorado, California and Texas.